While in Las Vegas last week watching all the sports betting action at the MGM Grand Hotel, I was inspired to create my own sports betting game -- for figure skating. Since skating events have three top winners in each discipline, the sport lends itself perfectly to a betting arrangement similar to horse racing.
You could place a bet on one skater to win (finish first), place (finish first or second) or show (finish in the top three). Or you could bet an exacta, where you choose the top two skaters to finish one-two in the exact order, or a trifecta, where you choose the top three skaters to finish in the exact order of first, second and third. There's also a quinella, where you choose the top two skaters, regardless who finishes first or second. You can place wagers for total points earned in each phase of the competition, the short program and the free skate, and whether or not someone will complete a quad jump or a triple axel. Betting on figure skating offers some intriguing possibilities.
Granted, figure skating is a wholesome sport that appeals primarily to older women and younger fans involved in the sports itself, so neither are exactly the type of audience that would place wagers on competitions. On the other hand, the U.S. Figure Skating Association sponsored fantasy skating last fall during the Grand Prix series. Fans selected skaters for their team and monitored their performance throughout the events. So perhaps betting on competitions isn't so farfetched afterall. It would help engage fan interest, and perhaps attract new fans to the sport. It can also create more excitement for the events, just as wagers encourage debate and discussion for the Super Bowl and the World Series.
Who knows? Maybe more men would begin to tune in to figure skating competitions if they knew they had something riding on the outcome.
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